Todd Sherer

Sherer, 43, joined the foundation in 2004 after completing a PhD in neuroscience and postdoctoral training. He built the foundation’s scientific team that assesses and steers research priorities before being elevated to CEO in 2011. Todd Sherer, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF), reporting to the Board of Directors. Formally trained as a neuroscientist, he directs the organization's research strategy and is responsible for the organization's overall scientific and fundraising direction to speed treatment breakthroughs and a cure for Parkinson's disease. Dr. Sherer has been a key architect of the Foundation's strategy to define high-priority research areas for Parkinson's disease - therapeutic targets and approaches that are closest or most critical to practical relevance in patients' daily lives - in order to leverage donor-raised capital to push projects in these areas toward the clinic. He has played a major role in the Foundation's efforts to increase the pharmaceutical industry's investment in Parkinson's disease drug development and engage the patient community to encourage and expand participation in clinical research. Today he is one of the world's foremost experts on the science and business of Parkinson's drug development, speaking frequently on these topics at conferences, to the media and to members of the Parkinson's community. Dr. Sherer's work with the Foundation began in 2003, when, as a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, he was awarded MJFF funding to investigate the role of environmental factors in Parkinson's disease. He joined the Foundation's staff full time as Associate Director, Research Programs, in April 2004. He was promoted to Vice President, Research Programs, in June 2006 and Chief Program Officer in November 2010, finally assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer in May 2011. Dr. Sherer is a member of the Board of Directors of the Parkinson's Action Network and participates in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders. He is a collaborating scientist for the Coalition Against Major Diseases (CAMD) and a member of the CINAPS Advisory Committee at the National Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease and Stroke, National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Sherer also serves on the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Council and the Cures Acceleration Network Review Board at the NIH. Additionally, Dr. Sherer was selected to serve as a council member on FasterCures' TRAIN (The Research Acceleration and Innovation Network) program. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Virginia and holds a BS in Psychology from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.